Has anyone here ever tried a vegetarian diet?I was talking to a neighbor the other day, and she mentioned that she was a vegetarian.Interesting.I never seriously considered becoming a vegetarian because all of the people that I've ever met that ate that way looked skinny and weak, but I was curious about the opinions or experiences of those who post here on this topic.

I never seriously considered becoming a vegetarian because all of the people that I've ever met that ate that way looked skinny and weak

Well i'd say that speaks to your lack of experience, rather than anything else, no offense.

I ate strictly vegetarian for something like 4 years, it has a lot of plusses going for it health wise.The American diet is usually so terrible that eating vegetarian at least removes a substantial source of overabundant fat in your diet, which combined with way too many starches is a nasty combination. Of course there are plenty of vegetarians that eat awful also.

I weigh about 210 right now, i'm not a little guy. I've known vegetarians who are huge and beefy, it's really a question of whether or not you actually know how to eat right while keeping vegetarian. Protein is not hard to get on a vegetarian diet. Vegan diets are where I see people looking unhealthy, but I am sure there it is also possible to eat healthily, though I imagine it's a bigger challenge.

If I remember right there are a few MMA fighters who are vegan and vegetarian, though I don't follow the scene well enough to be able to name them.

I was a semi-vegetarian (could go without meat for weeks at a time), and never noticed any problems strength-wise because of it. I probably was at my strongest then, although that speaks more to my injuries now, too.

My former BJJ instructor is a strict vegan, and he is in excellent shape. The only thing I've noticed with him is that he gets sick a lot, but that may not have anything to do with his diet.

Good grief Choonbee... a couple of "skinny and weak" vegetarians for you:

Bill Pearl, Mr Olympia (and yes he was a veggie when he won Mr Olympia):

Pro Bodybuilder Albert Beckles:

Pro Arm Wrestler Rob Bigwood (guy on the right of the image in the black shirt):

My advice is not to change your diet so you'll have something to talk to your neighbour about. Do some research on it first and see if it might offer you any nutritional benefits. Or do it if you have recently developed an interest in animal wellbeing.

But please educate yourself on the subject of nutrition and vegetarianism first.

Many pro bodybuilders have probably at some point tinkered with roids. However, the body still needs fuel to build and maintain mass. Steroids alone can't do that. No doubt steroids can increase vascularity and aid recovery, but to put on any sort of mass the body needs fuel.

Do you think a vegetarian who consumes an excess of calories (i.e. more calories going in to the body than are being burnt off) aren't going to gain mass in their body?

Here is another example of a strong, athletic vegetarian. His name is Michael Bennett. He was a world amateur boxing champion in the heavyweight division. Here he is as a professional boxer in the red trunks demonstrating his formiddable punching power. Note at the 0:07 mark Bennett's stats are shown, and list him as having weighed in at 201 pounds.

Once more I would implore you to educate yourself on the subject and get rid of any notions that vegetarians are "skinny and weak". The examples I have shown offer proof that this is not the case with all vegetarians. Read up on something before you make a lifestyle choice that could effect your health.

Wow.I didn't realize that there were so many vegetarian athletes.Prizewriter: I wasn't planning on making the switch to being a vegetarian. I simply had a conversation with one, it sounded interesting, and I was curious as to how those on this board felt about it.If I were going to do it, I would definitely educate myself on it, and speak with a nutritionist about it as well.Truth is, I'm pretty happy with my diet as it is. I just thought that it would be an interesting topic for discussion here.

No worries. Sorry if my tone was alarmist, I thought you were considering a change without reading in to it.

Here is an extreme example of what can happen when people decide to "eat in a healthy" way withouth knowing the full facts about what it is they are doing. The people mention in this articles were raw vegans, meaning they ate uncooked vegan food.

1. There are 'degrees' of vegetarianism: Some call themselves vegetarians, whilst still eating fish, eggs, even chicken. Show me a fish-tree or a chicken plant and I'll eat my lifting belt, but the fact remains that someone saying 'I'm vegetarian' does not always imply they live on vegetables alone.

2. Your body can get everything it needs from a vegetarian diet, but its not as easy to accomplish by default, as you find it with an omnivorous diet.

The reasons being that non animal sources of protein tend to be 'incomplete' ie, any one kind of bean, or pulse or fungus, does not contain a broad spectrum of amino acids, so to achieve this you need practice 'protein complimentation', combining sources of vegetable protein that together address your amino acid needs.In animal protein, that balance exists by default in most flesh.

3. Pro bodybuilders use steroids. All of them. But without training and nutritional support that meets their needs, no muscle tissue will grow. Therefor, a vegetarian pro bodybuilder offers an extreme visual evidence of vegetable protein being utilised successfully by the body.

The more food sources you deprive the body of, the more difficult it becomes to meet the wide ranging nutritional needs of your body, so the more hardline your vegetarianism, the more nutritionaly aware you need to be.